The Stars made several roster cuts yesterday to bring the team down to 25 players. With two players on the preseason roster -- veteran defenseman
Aaron Rome and young forward
Scott Glennie -- likely to be placed on injured reserve to start the season, the team would be at the maximum 23 players allowed on the active NHL roster come opening night.
Yesterday, goaltender
Cristopher Nilstorp and forwards
Colton Sceviour and
Travis Morin were assigned to the AHL's Texas Stars. All three players cleared waivers, while
Luke Gazdic is now a member of the Edmonton Oilers after the team claimed him off the Stars' waiver wire.
Veteran defenseman
Trevor Daley was still not cleared as of yesterday to return to practice with the team. However, there is a chance he could be ready to suit up in time for the opener. Veteran forward
Rich Peverley will miss opening night and is questionable for second game of the season as he recovers from a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat. He may be placed on IR to start the season and activated as soon as he's ready to be cleared.
It appears that center
Chris Mueller and defenseman
Kevin Connauton have won roster spots and will appear in the opening-night lineup for new coach
Lindy Ruff when the Stars host the Florida Panthers at the American Airlines Center on Wednesday night.
Based upon the reported practice combinations the last couple days and the club's injury report, the opening night lineup figures to look like this barring further injuries or roster moves:
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Erik Cole
Ray Whitney -Cody Eakin - Alex Chiasson
Shawn Horcoff - Vernon Fiddler - Valeri Nichushkin
Antoine Roussel -Chris Mueller- Ryan Garbutt
Brenden Dillon - Stephane Robidas
Alex Goligoski - Sergei Gonchar
Jordie Benn - Kevin Connauton
Kari Lehtonen
[Dan Ellis]
Possible scratches: Lane MacDermid (healthy), Trevor Daley (day-to-day), Rich Peverley (day-to-day, may start season on IR), Aaron Rome (IR, hip surgery), Scott Glennie (IR, knee).
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READER POLL: WILL STARS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS
After narrowly missing out on the playoffs in the final 24-to-72 hours of each of the last three regular seasons, the Dallas Stars changed general managers and head coaches this off-season. They also made several major roster changes, including the blockbuster deal that sent
Loui Eriksson to Boston and brought
Tyler Seguin to Dallas as well as the selection of
Valeri Nichushkin with the 10th overall pick of the 2013 NHL Draft.
The Stars went 5-0-2 in the preseason, and appeared to get better with each successive game. Now that the puck will soon drop on the regular season, do you believe that the team's done enough to end a playoff drought that now spans five seasons?
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